Much Madness
by BMT and SuperMoose
Summary: SPOILER WARNING TO CHAPTER 300-ISH. "Afterwards, Ichigo would wonder why it had been Kenpachi who appeared to him as his inner-hollow gained control." A rambly drabblesque fic by BlackMarketTrombones.


Much Madness is divinest Sense-

To a discerning Eye-

Much Sense – the starkest Madness-

'Tis the Majority

In this, as All, prevail-

Assent – and you are sane-

Demur – and you're straightway

dangerous-

And handled with a chain

-Emily Dickinson

Afterwards, Ichigo would wonder why it had been Kenpachi who appeared to him as his inner-hollow gained control. He had only just met – if that was the right word – the fearsome captain, and although he was certainly memorable, he could hardly claim to know him well.

And yet, when the situation was most dire, when he believed he could no longer fight against the hollow that as swallowing him up, it had not been one of his companions to rekindle his desire to fight. Why? Chad could easily have knocked some sense into him. Uryu gad a way with words – albeit an irritating one – that could have goaded him into action. Rukia had an uncanny ability to drag him out of his slumps, and Orihime… He would have done whatever it took to keep her from getting hurt again.

But Kenpachi had stormed through his mind and – in his own uniquely violent way – smacked him upside the head with the proverbial stick of common sense. Kenpachi. The crazy psychopath. If it hadn't actually happened before his eyes, he wouldn't have believed it. After all, he'd thought Kenpachi + common sense no way in hell!

Except that somehow, out of everyone he could have envisioned in his time of need, Kenpachi had stormed in and _talked_ sense to him. Sure, he'd also knocked him around a bit, but it was what he'd said that turned the tide more than how much he'd smacked him. Kenpachi. Who'd have thought.

But it somehow wasn't too bizarre. Zaraki Kenpachi was the epitome of that instinct his hollow had been talking about – that innate desire to fight, to grow strong. Who better than he to drag up that instinct that was buried in the deepest recesses of his soul? It was crazy, but it also made sense.

That was why he hadn't been sure if it really was Kenpachi who came to the rescue when he was getting whupped by Nnoitra's lackey; it would have been a perfect opportunity for hallucination-Kenpachi to be insightful again, but it was definitely the real thing. He almost wished it had just been another apparition; it was embarrassing enough to need rescuing in the first place, but to be saved by Kenpachi was almost more than he could bear. Not that it should matter as long as the Espada was defeated and Orihime saved, but it galled him and wounded his pride. Maybe it didn't make much sense to value honor over his life, but pride was a part of that instinct that was so important if he wanted to continue to suppress his inner-hollow. All sense had pretty much flown out the window by now anyway.

And Kenpachi had taken the common sense stick to Ikkaku too, a long time ago. How did he do that? How could he be so frikkin' crazy and still be right? He could be convinced that being a few cards short of a full deck might lead to having an unconventional thought process, but Zaraki Kenpachi was way beyond having misplaced a couple of marbles. He was genuinely, grade A, haul-him-off-to-Milledgeville-and-stick-him-in-a-nice-padded-room-if-you-can crazy! How else could you describe someone who would die just for a good fight?

But saying that – and Ichigo would never admit to anybody, not even himself – would mean that he should be rushed off to Milledgeville just as fast. If you could somehow get deep down past all the barriers and defenses that had been built up by society and expectations, you would find hidden away that same desire to fight that earned Zaraki the reputation as the most bloodthirsty Kenpachi in the history of the Seireitei. That was why he was the only one who could drag that instinct up out of Ichigo.

It made sense, in a crazy sort of way.

-

AN: Milledgeville, for those of you who do not know, is a city in the state of Georgia that is renowned for its long traditional of mental institutes.


End file.
